


And some of the time you would say it was luck, and some of the time you would say it was weather.

by Silviartemis



Series: Scars on our future hearts [3]
Category: Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Albert is tired, Also she's very young here, Canon Era, Fluff, Gen, I finally checked for spelling errors oh boy do I need a beta, Jack loves his newsies, Romeo's tiny too, Smalls is Tiny™ but fierce, Soft chaotic boys, Specs is amused, They are chaotic boys, and there's nothing at all to be done about that, they adopt a cat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-11
Updated: 2020-05-12
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:35:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24127516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silviartemis/pseuds/Silviartemis
Summary: "Racer. Albert. Care to explain?"The boys in question smiled the biggest smiles they could muster.Hi Jack how ya doing Jack nice evening uh what are you talking about Jack ahaha yeah good chat we better be going Jack."Antonio Higgins, Albert DaSilva, ya ain't going nowhere till ya tell me exactly why that papes' bag is meowing."
Relationships: Albert & Race & a tiny cat, Albert DaSilva/Jack Kelly, Albert DaSilva/Racetrack Higgins, Jack Kelly/patience, Racetrack Higgins & Jack Kelly, Why we don't have the & relationships?
Series: Scars on our future hearts [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1727803
Comments: 7
Kudos: 29





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> i’m very new to the whole “writing” thing so i’d love any kind of feedback!  
> There’s gonna be a part 2, it’s already on the way, i just gotta survive tomorrows exam first...  
> (if you feel like leaving a comment please do! I need the serotonin)

"Racer. Albert. Care to explain?"  
The boys in question smiled the biggest smiles they could muster.  
Hi Jack how ya doing Jack nice evening uh what are you talking about Jack ahaha yeah good chat we better be going Jack.  
"Antonio Higgins, Albert DaSilva, ya ain't going nowhere till ya tell me exactly why that papes' bag is meowing."

The bag was indeed meowing, and also moving quite erratically, bouncing against Albert's hip, uncaring of the boy's efforts to keep it still.

Just as Race moved to shield the evidence from view, valiantly trying to distract Jack with some nonsense about auditory hallucinations and when's the last time you've eaten something Jackie ya sure yer alright, a sharp claw found his way through the thin canvas and into the flesh of Albert's hand. In the tender spot between the index and the middle finger, to be exact. 

This caused the redhead, in order, to yelp quite audibly, to try and jump away from the threat, to realize the threat was hanging in a bag on his shoulder, to swear loudly and colourfully, to remove said trashing and screeching bag from his shoulder and keep it as far away from him as possible and, finally, to raise his eyes, lock them in Jack's and stare at him for a couple of seconds with the most endearing panicked expression. "Fuck."

The sound of Race's facepalm echoed between the walls of the alley, reached the few kids spying on the whole scene from the fire escape, and carried on towards the New York sky. Jack tried so hard not to laugh. He almost succeeded.

A few minutes later, the smallest kitten any of them had ever seen was snuggled tightly in a towel and cradled against Albert's chest, purring like the world depended on it as the boy lightly scratched her under the chin. 

A small crowd of newsies had to be forced out of the room after at least 4 sets of hands had tried petting the poor creature at the same time. Faint "can we keep it" and "aww it's so tiny" could still be heard from the other side of the door, but Jack wouldn't let himself be fooled. 

Crossing his arms and squaring his shoulders, he waited for the boys to explain. Race was the first to try his luck. 

"Okay. Here's the thing. T'was a dark and stormy night..."  
"It's barely evening"  
"...t'was a dark and stormy afternoon, shut up Jackie it rained earlier, and me n Al was walking down the street tryna sell our last papes. T'was cold and we was wet and miserable which by the way we still kinda are can we go get changed?"  
" Finish the story Higgins"  
" 'kay, so we heard meowing from an alley right? And we goes there and we see her!" 

Race's eyes widened comically as he emphatically pointed to the kitten, now peacefully sleeping. Albert's hand was protectively curled around her head. The boy was batting his eyelashes and doing his very best to look like a sad puppy while nodding along with Race's story. 

The kitten was indeed very cute, as were the two hopeful looking kids fawning over her. Without even noticing, Jack let his expression soften.

The boys saw an opening and launched their attack.

"And she was all alone Jackie" "Yeah and she was in a box!" "Yeah she was all alone in a box n she was shivering and crying!" "Cause she was cold and hungry!" "And all alone in that soggy box!" "We couldn't leave her Jack she would've died..." "And she's just too cute ta die" "Ya don't want a baby kitten ta die don't ya?"  
A muffled but still very loud "Yeah don't ya Jack?" from outside the room made them all jump in place and effectively stopped the stream of pleads and justifications. 

Jack let out a tired sigh, mentally counted to ten, envisioned the train ticket that would one day lead him to his dream life in Santa Fe and far away from this madness, and shouted back. "Romeo shut the hell up we locked ya out for a reason!".

Pinching the bridge of his nose, he looked back up to the scene before him. 

Albert had passed the bundle of towel and fur to Race, who was slowly rocking it back and forth in a passable imitation of what he had seen mothers do with their newborns. 

It was impossibly adorable. 

They were doing it on purpose. He knew they were doing it on purpose. He knew he was walking straight into a trap. He couldn't stop.

"A'ight." 

Two pairs of bright eyes flashed up to stare at him and he immediately regretted his every life decision. 

"But there's gotta be some rules..."


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I crave external validation and also please tell me if english.exe stopped working

"Did Jack really have ta specify that we's gotta make sure no kid's going hungry before we feed the cat? I mean, we's stupid not evil..."  
"Yes he did. He also had to explicitly include ya both in the 'kids that should eat before the cat' list, Race, cause ya may not be evil but ya sure as hell are stupid."  
"Thanks Specs, I really needed ta hear that."  
"You’s very welcome. How are ya goin ta name her? Ya sure she's a she?"

From his position near the door, Specs could see the whole kitchen and it's dwellers. It was a pretty singular sight and he didn't want to miss any of it.

On the one fully functioning chair, Albert was scrunching his face in concentration, the tip of his tongue peeking out of his lips. In his lap, the tiny beast was avidly sucking on the milk-soaked cloth the boy was holding out for her.  
Over his shoulder, Romeo and Smalls observed mesmerized, cooing softly anytime the kitten as much as chirped or hiccuped.  
By the table, Race was stuffing an old basket with rags and towels, trying to fashion a warm and comfy bed for their new protégé.  
"Yeah she's a girl, Tommy boy said it, don't know why that kid knows so much bout cats though..."

"I knows!" Smalls’s little hand shot up and her face split into a grin. "s cause his grandma had a farm n he went in the summer when he was little!"  
Race let out a laugh and moved to ruffle the girl's hair, just to have his hand slapped away from the carefully braided locks.  
"And I don't know how you knows so much 'bout every single kid that ever set foot in 'ere, tiny! What's you, an investigator?"  
"I's just real nice an' I actually listen when people talk, Racer, unlike ya!"  
The kid stuck out her tongue and promptly moved her attention back to more pressing matters, like the yawning kitten that still needed a name.

"Ya should call her something like Fluffy cause she's fluffy!"  
Romeo scoffed. "Yeah or maybe SoggyBox since she was in da soggy box"  
"Don't be a brat Romeo, tht’s an awful name! Maybe ya could call her Cloud cause she's soft and grey and it was rainin!"  
"Or maybe ya could call her Tiger so she'll grow up big and strong and she'll eat the Delanceys"  
"That's stupid Romeo, yer stupid"  
"Hey don't call me stupid! Weren’t ya real nice?!"

As the kids bickered, Albert stood up with the now sleeping kitten in his hands and carefully placed her in the basket his friend had just finished assembling. It was late and he just wanted to sit a little bit on the fire escape with Race and make his way home to sleep. The littles were nice, but they were loud.

"Oi halfpints, take it down a notch will ya? ‘S been a long day" He sighed and collapsed back in his chair, covering half of his face with his hat.

Specs took that as his cue to usher the two younger newsies out of the room, with the excuse of bed time and for the sake of Albert's sanity. He couldn't help but chuckle at the younger kids antics. Sometimes they acted so much like siblings it was easy to forget they had met less than a year prior. With a nod to his friends, he closed the door behind him.

At last, the kitchen was silent. Race yawned widely and plopped on the ground by Albert’s chair, basket resting in his lap. It had been a long day indeed and the rush of excitement he got out of the whole “sneaking a cat in the Lodge” situation had started to wear off.

He let his head fall against Albert’s thigh and closed his eyes. For a while he tried to think about names for the little ball of fluff they had managed to rescue, but really all he could think of was how nice it felt to slowly stroke the kitten fur by the warmth of the extinguishing stove, leaning against his best friend. He might’ve started to drift off, even.

“… ya know Race, I kinda like the name Cloud”


End file.
